LSAT 149 – Section 4 – Question 15

LSAT 149 - Section 4 - Question 15

December 2017

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT149 S4 Q15
+LR
+Exp
Argument part +AP
Conditional Reasoning +CondR
A
10%
156
B
79%
164
C
4%
161
D
1%
150
E
6%
158
136
147
159
 +Medium 147.325 +SubsectionMedium

The ancient reptile Thrinaxodon, an ancestor of mammals, had skull features suggesting that it had sensory whiskers. If Thrinaxodon had whiskers, it clearly also had hair on other parts of its body, which would have served as insulation that regulated body temperature. Therefore, Thrinaxodon was probably warm-blooded, for such insulation would be of little use to a cold-blooded animal.

Summarize Argument

The author concludes that Thrinaxodon was probably warm-blooded. As support, the author says that its skull suggests that it had whiskers. The author then provides the following conditional premise: If Thrinaxodon had whiskers→ Thrinaxodon had hair elsewhere on its body. The author claims that this hair elsewhere on its body would have regulated its body temperature. The evidence cited by the author affirms the sufficient condition (that Thrinaxodon probably had whiskers), so we can say that it probably had hair elsewhere. Since cold-blooded animals would have little use for insulation, the author concludes that Thrinaxodon was probably warm blooded.

Identify Argument Part

The statement in the question stem provides support for the claim that Thrinaxodon was warm-blooded, because a cold-blooded animal would have little use for such insulation.

A
It is a premise offered in support of the conclusion that insulation regulating body temperature would be of little use to a cold-blooded animal.

The conclusion of the argument is not that insulation regulating body temperature would be of little use to a cold-blooded animal; rather, the conclusion is that Thrinaxodon was probably warm-blooded.

B
It is a premise offered in support of the main conclusion drawn in the argument.

The statement in the question stem is a premise that supports the conclusion that Thrinaxodon was probably warm-blooded, since cold-blooded animals would have little such for such insulation.

C
It is a conclusion for which the claim that Thrinaxodon had skull features suggesting that it had sensory whiskers is offered as support.

The claim in the question stem is not a conclusion, it is a premise.

D
It is a statement of a hypothesis that the argument attempts to show is false.

The claim in the question stem is used to support the argument’s conclusion; the argument is not trying to show that this information is false.

E
It is offered as an explanation of the phenomenon described by the argument’s main conclusion, but it is not itself used to provide support for that conclusion.

The statement in the question stem does provide support for the conclusion, so (E) is descriptively inaccurate.

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LSAT PrepTest 149 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Reading Comprehension

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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